Time they are a changing…especially in classrooms

Today’s students don’t send notes, they text. And, they don’t need to cart heavy textbooks around. They can download their class notes off the Internet.

They use iPads and other hand-held technology in class. They don’t need to go to class to “hand-in” an assignment when it can be emailed, or uploaded to a class page. They use social media to confer about homework, and gadgets of all sorts to research.

New technology has ushered in not only new ways to communicate, but also new words to talk about this communication. Lingo formerly used in texting has gone mainstream–they have made their way into the lexicon and are widely accepted. In fact, the OED has added “initialisms” such as lol and imho to the acceptable lexicon.

Language and education are changing rapidly… but it’s where these two intersect that is slower to adapt: grammar.

Educators and grammarians (and purists) still cling to tried-and-true rules of grammar—they way things always have been. And students, who are masters of communication outside the classroom are struggling to conform to a rule set that doesn’t seem relevant.

The rules of grammar are based on rules that were created decades ago. When it comes to grammar, unlike when it comes to words, change does not come so easily or with as much acceptance

However, maybe it’s time to accept that some of the hard-and-fast rules are ready to be bent, or at least ready for a classroom update as well?

If the goal is teaching students how to express themselves clearly—even display some style—using today’s technology and lexicon, then it’s quite possible that the “old” rules might not be appropriate anymore.

Outside of the classroom, in much of the printed material that students encounter, the “rules” are being broken—even encouraged. Some of the most common “broken rules” that students will come across in books, blogs, magazines, and across the Internet in general include:

• Starting sentences with AND or BUT.
• Splitting the infinitive
• Sentence fragments
• Ending a sentence with a preposition
• Turning nouns into verbs.

However, students still need to know the rules in order to communicate clearly and effectively. Grammar sets the rules of our language and provides parameters to guide comprehension.

Don’t fail that English test! Understand the basics first, and then add in style and creativity. Start a sentence with a conjunction (but know what a conjunction is). Use sentence fragments—they add punch. Impress your teacher. Break the rules, but be smart about it.

Just don’t write lol in your essay.  The OED may have accepted it, but it’s doubtful that teachers will.

Need help developing grammar skills?  A program at Oxford Learning can help! Contact your local centre and learn those grammar rules inside and out! Begin today!

The answer is that kids between the ages of 8 and 18 are using media approximately 7 and half hours a day, which is up since the last time this study was done five years ago.

At that time, researchers thought that teens’ media usage was at an all-time high at 5 hours a day. But, today’s technology is increasingly mobile. It can, and does, go anywhere that kids go. The breakfast table. The car. The park. Kids don’t have to plant their butts in front of the TV or the desktop computer to be plugged in.

The mobility of media means that kids are constantly connected, which is how they are spending almost 1/2 of their waking day online. And they’re not just plugged in—they’re using multiple media simultaneously.

Kids today are the ultimate multi-taskers: walking and texting. Listening and surfing. Gaming and chatting. Watching and texting.

For tween and teens, technology is ubiquitous.

It’s au courant.

It’s also problematic.

It can lead to obesity. It can cause social disconnection, focus issues, and dangerous online habits. And, most importantly, it can cause communication problems in the classroom.

Whether you are a supporter of teens’ usage of technology, or worried about potential impact it might have on users, one thing is sure: the techno-savvy teen generation is raising a lot of very important questions about how media usage is changing the way that we think and learn, both in and out of the classroom.

Q: When is talking on your phone not talking? When it’s texting!

At the ripe old age of 25 I thought myself to be fairly au courant — that my online skills weren’t at all lacking, or needing of improvement. That is until I added my 13-year-old cousin to my messenger service. Every time I chatted with her online I revealed just how much of a dud I was, and continually had to ask her what acronyms like ROTFL meant (rolling on the floor laughing). Not to mention BRB, GTG, LOL TTYL-see side panel.

IM Lingo

• GTG— got to go
• BRB— be right back
• BBL— be back later
• L8R— later
• LOL— laughing out loud
• NP— no problem
• TTYL— talk to you later
• TTFN— ta ta for now
• ROFLOL— rolling on floor, laughing out loud
• OTP— on the phone
• JK— just kidding
• IMHO— in my humble opinion
• IMNSHO— in my not so humble opinion

This kid is only thirteen — how could she possibly be cooler than me? Where is she learning how to do all this stuff? Turns out, my cousin isn’t the tech-wizard trailblazer that I originally thought. In fact, instant messaging is THE hottest communication method for the younger generations — almost any electronic device can be used to “text” a message to one’s peeps (or people). Don’t believe it? Turn on MTV or Much Music during one of the live request shows and watch as the side panels scroll along with what looks like the alphabet on crack. These kids know IM’ing — it’s among their top social communication method.

Some kids have cell phones by the time they are in first grade. Before they can even spell, they can text their friends: WRU? [where are you?] or CUS [see you soon].

Call me old-fashioned, but I find this a little concerning.

Don’t get me wrong, instant messaging is a great tool for social communication, but it can cause some serious issues the classroom, especially if your child is just developing writing/spelling/vocabulary skills. During the early education years, texting could be detrimental to proper language development. Here are some of the reasons why.

• Spelling — vocabulary is key skill in early education. The first grades are all about vocabulary lists, and spelling tests, not to mention sentence writing. Spelling can take a hit when kids, during this critical learning time, use short forms before they know the whole word, let alone how to spell it.
• Grammar — A big part of grammar is punctuation. It takes years to learn how to properly use it, and even then punctuation can be a landmine for mistakes. Online messaging has practically no punctuation, and is basically a grammar free-for-all.
• Complete Thoughts — another key skills that IM has a blatant disregard for is that of the complete, cohesive thought. The major challenge in writing is to be able to express an argument clearly as a complete thought: with a beginning, a middle and an end. One word sentences that are prevalent in IM don’t help to develop the complete thought skill – they detract from it.
• Homework — it’s hard enough to stay focused on homework without being distracted by the chiming alerts of a messaging system every few seconds. If your child struggles to complete his homework, be sure that he signs out of IM before he begins so that he can dedicate some uninterrupted time to focus on the task at hand: homework.

IM isn’t all bad — I’ve been known to partake on occasion, when I just don’t feel like talking. But then, I already have a firm grasp of our language and how it’s used. Once kids develop strong language skills, then they can start learning all the variations, like IM — after all, it’s a great social tool for staying in touch with friends — but it needs to be kept distinctly separate from proper language development.

So maybe my young cousin taught me a few things about IM (okay, she taught me everything I know) but when it comes time for her first university essay, I’m sure that I could show her a few things.

WDYT? [what do you think?]

In future articles, we’ll talk about keeping an eye on IM chats (read monitoring), IM bullying and keeping your child’s online profile free of personal information.